


Priority

by Project0506



Series: Soft Wars [73]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Brothers, Family, Gen, gen - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-01
Updated: 2020-05-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:14:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,442
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23948995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/pseuds/Project0506
Summary: There've been more and more things Cody's been hearing from other people.  Things heshouldbe hearing from Rex.A scene to accompany 'Wholly Unprofessional'
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & CT-7567 | Rex
Series: Soft Wars [73]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1683775
Comments: 66
Kudos: 676





	Priority

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Broad-Shouldered Beasts](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23932138) by [orphan_account](https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account). 
  * Inspired by [Wholly Unprofessional](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23925154) by [Project0506](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Project0506/pseuds/Project0506). 



“This is the part where I say I’m disappointed, not angry.”

Rex flinches, and Cody smiles, wan and sad.

“Yeah, I didn’t think it was funny either. Can I come in?”

There’s something wrong about him asking. There’s something very wrong about him having to ask at all. Rex steps aside, gestures him through. He doesn’t know what would happen if he’d just turned around and walked back into his room, expecting Cody to follow.

He suspects he does know.

Rex shipboard quarters aren’t at all like Cody’s. Everything inside is standard, and he doesn’t remember picking anything of the layout; if he did, he’d put so little thought into it, it never registered. For Rex, this is a place to sleep and little else. The repurposed officers’ mess, the briefing-come-rec room, the gym; public areas where Torrent lives. That’s where Rex lives. That’s where one would find the touches he’s added.

His quarters are impersonal, outfitted to be comfortable enough for a night and little else. He’s not even around enough for there to be clutter, even while his office is an avalanche of holopads.

Cody takes one end of the bed single bed. There aren’t any chairs. He pauses, as if to ask for permission again. Rex is horrifically glad he doesn’t.

Rex takes the other corner. He hates himself, a little, that he didn’t even consider sitting right next to him. The metal bed frame creaks softly under the weight.

“Bly.” Cody says, and this time at least Rex is prepared, enough to control his flinch. “I had to hear it from _Bly_.”

Rex knows Cody means no offense to Bly. Cody loves him, fiercely and deeply the way he loves every one of Squad Shebs. But there’s The Shebse, and then there’s Cody and Rex. From the very beginning, the latter had always meant something just a bit more.

“I’m sorry-”

“And I started to wonder. What the hell could have happened, what the hell did I _do_ that would make you suddenly think it wasn’t okay to talk to me. You know what I realized?”

“You didn’t do anything.”

Cody smiles, indulgent. As if the answer was _wrong_ but he’d expected it to be.

“I realized that it wasn’t _sudden_ at all. Was it?”

Rex doesn’t know. Doesn’t understand and doesn’t answer. Cody kicks his boots off, pulls one foot up onto the bed and leans his arms on his bent knee. “You never told me about Anakin, you know. I inferred it, from watching you, and you confirmed it. You _still_ haven’t introduced me to your Ahsoka.”

There had always been this mystique about Cody, from the time Rex was very young. He’d always felt like Cody knew everything, had all the answers. Logically, Rex knows that part of growing up is realizing your elders often didn’t have answers. But Cody had maintained that, had kept being terrifyingly competent, terrifyingly insightful. And Rex had just… forgotten. That he was as human as the next brother.

“I only have rumors about Fisto. I found out about Bacara when the 91st ran an admin check and reached out to confirm that everyone’s _listed_ _Remembrance Recipient_ was still alive. And I find out _from_ _Bly_ that I am helping slowly kill your lover and his troops.”

The military corners of his bunk wrinkle when Rex shifts. The gray wool blanket scratches against his blacks.

“He didn’t want to be a bother.”

“ _He_ didn’t?” Cody snaps and the question bites, unexpectedly. No. It wasn’t _just_ Bacara who didn’t want to be a bother. Rex’s fingers worry at the edge of his pillow.

“We had it figured out. We had a solution-”

“One needlessly complicated which could have been wholly unnecessary if you had spent thirty seconds talking to me.”

“I _had it handled_.”

Cody doesn’t say anything to his outburst. His face doesn’t seem to change at all. Rex breathes heavily from the force of it. He rubs viciously at his head. Ducks. Swallows. Looks anywhere but at his brother.

His room is almost dispiriting in its sterility. He wonders, absently, if he didn’t care to change things because he spent no time here, or if he spent no time here because nothing was changed.

“I’m sorry,” Rex says. For yelling. For making Cody feel left out of his life. Not really for the rest of it.

“Why didn’t you come to me Rex? I have an answer, but I’d like to hear yours.”

Rex rehearses his words, makes sure that what he says is what he wants to. “I didn’t need to. I could handle it, and it wasn’t something you needed to have to deal with.”

A breathed laugh curls between them. “Yeah. That was my answer too,” Cody says. “And I’m sorry.”

It doesn’t make sense.

Cody’s face is sad, twisted with self-deprecation that doesn’t belong. When he reaches out both hands Rex doesn’t hesitate to take them, doesn’t stop himself from being drawn down close.

“Rex of Torrent. Vode seeks your pledge.”

Rex’s fingers clamp down like vices. It _must_ hurt. Cody’s face doesn’t show it.

“What are you talking about.” It’s not a question. Was there… did this somehow make Cody _doubt_? “I _already_ -”

“That’s not what I remember.” Cody brings their hands to his chest, then to his forehead. “I remember dropping the subject. I remember letting you think that your pledge had been _expected_. And I remember letting you think that our relationship meant that I could take your loyalty for granted and reinforcing the lie that I don’t need to be concerned about you.”

That’s. That’s not true. That isn’t true at all. _Of course_ Rex pledges to Cody. That was always.

They’re _Cody and Rex_.

“Cody.”

“I don’t need anything. _You_ need to say it. And you need me to accept it from you. And you need me to give you the same promise that I give to the head of every unit: that my priority is you.”

He can be excused, Rex thinks, for forgetting that Cody doesn’t know everything. Especially in times like these, when he can know things about Rex that Rex wouldn’t have ever suspected.

Rex has always been Cody’s. He hadn’t known he needed to confirm it, for himself. To let himself know that Rex is Cody’s because he chose it. He hadn’t known he needed to hear it was okay to not have everything handled.

Rex presses into Keldabe.

Arms and armor. Mando’a and battlesign. Defense and education. Brothers and children Aliit1 and Vod’alor2.

“I accept Torrent into my care. I call you brother and clan. Your battles are mine and my victories are yours.”

Rex has been Vode from before Vode had a name. _This_ shouldn’t be the relief it is.

Rex doesn’t know how long they stay curled in his cramped bunk, his head pressed against his big brother’s. Even when they part, when Rex pulls away first because Cody would stay as long as Rex needs him to, even then Rex doesn’t go far. It’s been a while since he’s just… been in his brother’s space.

Cody rubs a hand over the prickle of Rex’s short hair. Years later, and Rex is still buzzing it the same way the Shebse always had, even if hiding his blond wasn’t as important anymore. “Always stubborn, Rex’ika,” Cody chides, and Rex takes that as his due.

“I had an awful role model growing up.”

It’s not surprising that Cody lashes out, sleen-swift, and pinches Rex’s unguarded side. “And _r_ _ude_. You got that from Ponds.”

“I’ve heard it was Wolffe that raised me.”

Cody pinches him again.

They’ll always be alright, Cody and Rex. Rex just needed the reminder that they do still need to talk, and not just assume. “Come to officers’ mess,” he offers suddenly. “We can talk. You can meet Ahsoka. She’ll turn up if I get out ingredients for pie.” He has a lot of things he hasn’t told Cody. It’ll be easier if his hands are busy.

Cody’s laugh is a quiet thing, only barely shaking his shoulders. “Alright. Your room’s depressing, anyway.”

Rex destroys the last of his military corners, snagging his pillow and thwapping Cody with it. “Shut it, we’re not all hoarders.” A pause, deliberate. Rex rises to his feet and heads for the door. “It doesn’t have to look nice, if I never use it.”

Rex is still Cody’s little brother after all. He wouldn’t be a little brother if he didn’t mess with him.

Cody chokes and scrambles into his boots and after Rex. “Wait. Rex. _What do you mean_ _by that_?”

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Clan. Back  
> 2\. (Author-Derived) Clan head of the Vode. Back  
> 


End file.
